The head doctor fighting the deadly tropical virus Ebola in Sierra Leone has himself caught the disease, the government said.

The 39-year-old Sheik Umar Khan, hailed as a "national hero" by the health ministry, was leading the fight to control an outbreak that has killed 206 people in the West African country. Ebola kills up to 90 percent of those infected and there is no cure or vaccine.

Across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, more than 600 people have died from the illness, according to the World Health Organisation, placing great strain on the health systems of some of Africa's poorest countries.

Khan, a Sierra Leonean virologist credited with treating more than 100 Ebola victims, has been transferred to a treatment ward run by medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, according to the statement released late on Tuesday by the president's office.

Health minister Miatta Kargbo called Khan a national hero and said she would "do anything and everything in my power to ensure he survives".

They can pump him full of fluids and coagulants to control the haemorrhaging to give his body time to fight the virus, its not a guarantee that he’ll pull through, but that would give him a better chance than doing nothing.

So how did he contract it? Was he careless or is there a infect method he didn't know about.

It's my understand that the disease is so virulent that it routinely affects doctors and nurses who treat victims.Being somewhat familiar with medical services in that part of the world I'd say it's quite likely that hospitals there lack the resources to carry out standard infection control measures...which surely could explain why medical people contract it.

It's my understand that the disease is so virulent that it routinely affects doctors and nurses who treat victims

Ebola as it's known today is virulent, but it's only passed through an exchange of bodily fluids with the victim. If a healthcare professional is treating people with hemorrhagic fever symptoms in this region and they don't take proper procedures to protect themselves, I'd question how much they really know about the disease.

If the doctors or nurses took those precautions, and were still infected, the disease may be spreading through another vector.

16
posted on 07/23/2014 10:08:10 AM PDT
by Lou L
(Health "insurance" is NOT the same as health "care")

Must not be too difficult to catch, which means they had better get this under control before it spreads to high population areas.

If I was still at the hospital where I worked for years I could ask a friend there who's a Infectious Disease specialist I knew him since he was a intern).An especially virulent virus is one possible explanation...poor infection control/sanitation practices is another,IMO.

The doctor is an expeirienced virologist who did the best he could , under the circustances . Also noted in another article that three of his nurses also contracted the disease , and died . When this ebola outbreak first occurred, there was some conjecture that it could also possibly be transmitted airborne - but have seen no recent affirmation. With only 10% survival rate , it would certainly cause panic; that is why some countries are closing their borders, attempting to contain the disease .

There has already been one case that showed up in Canada. The patient had travelled from West Africa to Toronto and then became ill.

The patient was immediately quarantined and there has been no further public information on the outcome. If the Canadian authorities started any contact tracing, they have been extremely quiet about it.

Up to 40 illegal immigrants from Africa were reportedly quarantined in Italy with suspected Ebola infection. The Italian Government declared the matter a national security issue and has censored all further information on the incident.

The reported number of Ebola deaths in West African countries varies widely and is unreliable - except that it is likely higher than any Government official will admit.

The great fear is that the virus will mutate and, at some point, become airborne. Up until now, the virus has apparently been transmitted only through direct contact.

The notable exception is the Reston, Va. case a few years ago in which workers caring for infected animals contracted the disease through the air. As I recall, none got ill, although at least one tested positive for antibodies.

So there are both species-to-species and transmissability issues, as well as the virus’s ability to adapt and mutate.

As someone else noted, most strains of Ebola are so virulant that they kill quickly. That is both terrible and, from a containment standpoint, desirable. When the incubation and fatality rates drop so that the infected can travel and transmit, the world will be in deep trouble.

Perhaps I should say in more deep trouble, as if we don’t already have enough.

You cant effectively treat patients and behave like theyre level 4 bio hazards at the same time.

But these patients ARE Level 4 bio-hazards. How many top doctors investigating this disease can we afford to potentially lose? While I'm not a doctor, I think you can offer effective treatment but at the same time, protect yourself.

42
posted on 07/23/2014 1:09:43 PM PDT
by Lou L
(Health "insurance" is NOT the same as health "care")

They are, but doctors and nurses didn’t get into that line of work to lock people up behind 2 layers of barrier and watch them die. They want to help people, and helping people means interacting with people, which means violating level 4 protocols (especially in the 3rd world where such protocols are basically impossible to setup in the first place). It’s the risk they knowingly signed up for, if they weren’t willing to take it they’d have stayed in a safer section of medicine. It sucks that they periodically get the diseases they fight and die from them, but like the man said “this is the life they have chosen”.

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